ONS Connect - February 2008 - (Page 14) Spotlight on Cancer Control in Africa State of Cancer Care • African countries will experience more than 1 million new cancer cases annually by 2020. • The countries lack infrastruc ture and resources to cope with the cancer burden, even more so than developing countries in oth er parts of the world. • Most Africans have no access to cancer screening and early diag nosis; treatment capabilities also are severely lacking. Progress of Awareness Efforts • Healthcare authorities and experts met in Cape Town, South Africa, in December 2006 to focus on Af rica’s growing cancer burden. The group issued a declaration with 11 recommendations (www.uicc.org/ index2.php?option=com_content &task=view&id=15986&pop=1 &page=0&Itemid=358). • In May 2007, a global conference on cancer control in Africa was held in London to create an “ev idencebased, sustainable, and resourceappropriate action plan” to enable the delivery of compre hensive cancer control to African countries. The London Declara tion resulted from the meeting (www.afrox.org). “Because of a lack of logistics and funds, there isn’t much that we as nurses can do about these disparities, aside from the normal education we are able to give to people.” causes, prevention, and prevalence of cancer, in addition to teaching them about adequate screening tests and when to do them.” Skaff says that some of the doctors at AUBMC are involved in research and work in affiliation with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer, Johns Hopkins Medicine, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and other health care centers in the United States. AUBMC also has access to U.S. Food and Drug Administration–approved medications through the MOH and pharmaceutical companies. Lebanon does not yet have a national cancer registry, and no national can cer nursing societies exist, although Skaff says that a few oncology RNs at AUBMC belong to ONS. global Cancer Control According to the World Health Organi zation’s (WHO’s) Global Action Against Cancer report (2005), cancer is the sec ond leading cause of death in developed countries and is among the three leading causes of death for adults in developing countries. The incidence of cancer is in creasing despite advances in knowledge about prevention and treatment, and it profoundly impacts the global disease burden (Huerta & Grey, 2007). The WHO report reveals that if trends con tinue, the estimated number of new can cer cases will increase by 50% by 2020 to 16 million people globally, twothirds of whom live in newly industrialized and developing countries. More than 60% of cancer can be cured by surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy in industrialized nations. Unfortunately, a high percentage of pa tients diagnosed with cancer in devel oping countries, including those with potentially curable cancers, receive inad equate or no therapy. Many do not reach specialized treatment centers (Magrath, 2004). Furthermore, the incidence will be higher if tobacco use continues to rise, especially in the developing world, where little action is taken to do cancer preventive activities (WHO, 2005). “Because of a lack of logistics and funds, there isn’t much that we as nurses can do about these disparities, aside from the normal education we are able to give to people,” says Lamptey. ✱ Huerta, E., & Grey, N. (2007). Cancer control opportunities in low and middleincome coun tries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 57(2), 72–74. Magrath, I. (2004). The International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research: Helping poorer nations confront a growing problem. CancerFutures, 3(1), 55–58. World Health Organization. (2005). Global ac tion against cancer. Retrieved December 14, 2007, from http://wwwnaweb.iaea.org/pact/ documents/WHO_Global_Action_Cancer_ Engl_2005.pdf Join the ONS Transcultural Nursing Issues SIG The ONS Transcultural Nursing Issues Special Interest Group (TNI SIG) actively supports the work of ONS in developing a multiculturally competent Society. For more infor mation or to join the TNI SIG, visit http://transcultural.vc.ons.org. 14 ONS CONNECT Contributing Editor Hanan Saca-Hazboun, RN, MSN, is a lecturer in the Faculty of Nursing and Health Science at Bethlehem University in West Bank, Palestinian Authority. February 2008 http://www.uicc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15986&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=358 http://www.uicc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15986&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=358 http://www.uicc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15986&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=358 http://www.uicc.org/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15986&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=358 http://www.afrox.org http://www-naweb.iaea.org/pact/documents/WHO_Global_Action_Cancer_Engl_2005.pdf http://www-naweb.iaea.org/pact/documents/WHO_Global_Action_Cancer_Engl_2005.pdf http://www-naweb.iaea.org/pact/documents/WHO_Global_Action_Cancer_Engl_2005.pdf http://transcultural.vc.ons.org
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